Washington Community Schools hosted workplace visits

Washington Community Schools opened their doors to visitors on Monday as they hosted reverse workplace visits. The visits were designed to allow area business professionals to come into the schools and see how class is conducted.

Stewart Elementary Principal, Adam Miller, explained that in the past, teachers went to area businesses to see how their workplaces operated but this year they decided to change it up and invite people into their workplace instead. Each visit lasted an hour and designated classrooms were chosen for observation.

'We just made different schedules where they just go wherever,” he said. 'We tried to vary the experience for them so they're not just sitting in one classroom for an hour.”

Miller said he felt that bringing people into the school was a unique but positive opportunity because the education field has changed and being able to give the community a firsthand experience could help strengthen the understanding.

'A lot has changed in the last 15, 20 years, so (for) a lot of people who are working right now ... if you aren't in a school very often, you wouldn't know that some of the things that have evolved over time, so just kind of getting in and seeing what the kids are doing now because they're doing more than when we were in school (is important),” he said.

Not only do visitors get to experience how teachers conduct their day, but also see what new curriculum and materials are being integrated into the schools, he said.

'There's so much more hands-on learning that goes on in schools now than when we were in school, that the biggest take-away is you can see how kids are using their brains and really having to problem-solve and build and engineer,” he said. 'All of those STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) activities are so much more prevalent now.”